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How soon do you take a bunny to the vets....

clarebear

Mama Doe
How soon do you take a bunny to the vets when they have stopped eating?

I tend to whizz Bramble off as soon as he has stopped eating, but the nurse this week said that this can cause stress and can make things worse. I suppose I panic a bit, but I've always understood that the sooner you get them there the better.

Reading Fiona Campbell's book The Hay & Green Diet this morning, and that said you should take them if they haven't eaten for 12 hours! That seems like a long time to me!
 
It is not only the 'not eating' though

Poo output and many, many other factors need to be taken into account. So there cant be a specific time that can be given as no case will be the same.
 
With Truffle, I'll generally try to get her moving and keep an eye on her. I generally look for signs of discomfort rather than just not eating. She'll often do the flopping out pressing her belly to the floor thing - if it gets worse she'll move around more trying to get comfortable, sometimes will have her feet up against a wall or something - generally become very fidgety - I wouldn't leave her like that for any length of time. If she's hunched and grinding teeth I would take her straight away too. So it's not just the not eating, but a general observation.

I would also normally feel her belly for anything obviously wrong, but until very recenlty didn't really know what I was feeling for. Sadly I now know exactly what bloat feels like, and would be straight to the vets on finding that too.

It would also depend on when I discovered they weren't eating - if I'd just come home after work and found them like that, I'd leave them a lot less time than if I knew they'd been fine half an hour previously.

So - yeah not a straightforward answer!


eta sorry I should say I know Truffle is prone to stasis episodes, so that is the likely cause with her. IF I didn't have a background and suspected other issues - dental or something - I'd probably take them sooner just becuase I wouldn't have the history of how it progresses/what I'm looking for.
 
It is not only the 'not eating' though

Poo output and many, many other factors need to be taken into account. So there cant be a specific time that can be given as no case will be the same.

:thumb:

Ginger, after about 4-6hours, mainly because we have everything here that a vet would administer and so without the need for a stressful visit and we know what happens with her.

Biscuit, probably pretty early on, as he very rarely gets sick, although i'd call and get the advice of a vet first and ask them if we can administer the same things at home, although if thought of obstruction, would whisk immediately.
 
I usually say 2 hours, unless the bunny was clearly in pain or showing other signs. If they were just not eating and seemed a bit "off", I usually put this down to gas and giving tummy massages and making them run about a bit usually gets them sorted. Having said that, my buns always seem to have a miraculous recovery after I've rushed them to the vets! (Before the drugs have kicked in) :roll:
 
Completely depends on how they are acting! There's not eating and faffing around at one end and then there's not eating and clearly in considerable discomfort and going down hill at the other extreme. The latter they would be off to the vets asap the former or somewhere in the middle I would try two lots of medicine and fluids over about 5hours or so and if no success after the second attempt we'd be off to the vet or earlier if there was deterioration. I think this is a very tricky thing to gauge as a new rabbit owner or with a new bunny until you know their behaviour!

Ive managed to resolve it with my own bunnies everytime, apart from once, when the cause turned out to be a tooth spur! Tried the same with friends bunnies and on two occassions it required some extra vet assistance to resolve the problem!
 
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It would depend on other things.

When Ludo stopped eating at the beginning of the year it was in conjuction with stopping pooing, so I took him in as an emergency that hour. Luckily, he pulled through.

He gets stasis-poos about once every three months, but I then give him a hay only diet and so far it's never got as far as stopping eating again, the hay has always worked. If it didn't work within a few hours then I'd take him as an emergency to the vets!
 
With Truffle, I'll generally try to get her moving and keep an eye on her. I generally look for signs of discomfort rather than just not eating. She'll often do the flopping out pressing her belly to the floor thing - if it gets worse she'll move around more trying to get comfortable, sometimes will have her feet up against a wall or something - generally become very fidgety - I wouldn't leave her like that for any length of time. If she's hunched and grinding teeth I would take her straight away too. So it's not just the not eating, but a general observation.

I would also normally feel her belly for anything obviously wrong, but until very recenlty didn't really know what I was feeling for. Sadly I now know exactly what bloat feels like, and would be straight to the vets on finding that too.

It would also depend on when I discovered they weren't eating - if I'd just come home after work and found them like that, I'd leave them a lot less time than if I knew they'd been fine half an hour previously.

So - yeah not a straightforward answer!


eta sorry I should say I know Truffle is prone to stasis episodes, so that is the likely cause with her. IF I didn't have a background and suspected other issues - dental or something - I'd probably take them sooner just becuase I wouldn't have the history of how it progresses/what I'm looking for.

Sounds like Truffle behaves in a very similar way to Bramble. He flops out too, or lays against the skirting board and looks really uncomfortable. Usually there is lots of tummy noise too. Obviously when he is feeling like this he refuses he normally refuses his tea first (always seems to happen in the evening!), which is very unusal for him, and then he looks very uncomfortable. The other day I was convinced it was his teeth and that he was in pain, but now we think it may have been caused to stomach ulcers, which seem to flair up every now and then.
 
depends on the bun and the circumstances. matthew rabbit will go off his food at the start of a moult, sometimes before hair starts to shed. i treat with infacol and pineapple juice and chase him around, and he's ok within a few hours. the others don't do this, so i'd get them to a vet within a couple of hours.
 
:thumb:

Ginger, after about 4-6hours, mainly because we have everything here that a vet would administer and so without the need for a stressful visit and we know what happens with her.

Biscuit, probably pretty early on, as he very rarely gets sick, although i'd call and get the advice of a vet first and ask them if we can administer the same things at home, although if thought of obstruction, would whisk immediately.

Do you keep Medication at home?
 
depends on the bun and the circumstances. matthew rabbit will go off his food at the start of a moult, sometimes before hair starts to shed. i treat with infacol and pineapple juice and chase him around, and he's ok within a few hours. the others don't do this, so i'd get them to a vet within a couple of hours.

Somebody has recommended Infacol to me....maybe worth getting some of that!
 
Thanks so much everyone, good to hear your opinions, and I guess it really does depend on the bunny.

I usually take Bramble within 2 to 3 hours of him stopping eating and pooping, but wondered if I was being too hasty, but I think it's about the normal time frame everyone uses.

Cheers! :wave:
 
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